Mounting assembly for vibrating screen deck

ABSTRACT

Pin and wedge mounting assembly for flat deck screen panels used on a vibrating screen deck provides secure locking of the screen panels while permitting rapid assembly and disassembly of the assembled components. The pin is slotted for receipt of the wedge and the wedge has an enlarged head which is of a greater width than the pin. The enlarged head serves to deflect product flowing along the screen away from the pin, thus preventing or greatly reducing wear of the pin and the operative surfaces of the wedge. In abrasive applications such as mining, the head of the wedge and the pin are preferably covered with inexpensive, replaceable caps of an abrasion resistant material such as polyurethane, polypropylene or neoprene.

tJnie tates' Met [19] Martin Mar. 5, 1974 [75] Inventor: Robert A.Martin, Cottage Grove,

Minn.

[73] Assignee: Universal Oil Products Company, Des Plaines, Ill.

[22] Filed: Mar. 23, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 344,408

[52] US. Cl 209/395, 209/399, 209/403, 209/405 [51] llnt. Cl 1807b 1/42[58] Field of Search... 209/393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 209/398, 399, 400,401, 402, 403, 404, 405

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,203,548 8/1965 Rovbal209/399 3,508,650 4/1970 Carr 209/399 1,290,906 1/1919 Campbell 209/399X 3,092,573 6/1963 Lambert et al 209/403 889,380 6/1908 Lampson..209/405 Primary Examiner-Harrison L. l-linson Attorney, Agent, orFirm.lames R. Hoatson, Jr.;

Barry L. Clark; William 1-1. Page, 11

[57] ABSTRACT Pin and wedge mounting assembly for flat deck screenpanels used on a vibrating screen deck provides secure locking of thescreen panels while permitting rapid assembly and disassembly of theassembled components. The pin is slotted for receipt of the wedge andthe wedge has an enlarged head which is of a greater width than the pin.The enlarged head serves to deflect product flowing along the screenaway from the pin, thus preventing or greatly reducing wear of the pinand the operative surfaces of the wedge. 1n abrasive applications suchas mining, the head of the wedge and the pin are preferably covered withinexpensive, replaceable caps of an abrasion resistant material such aspolyurethane, polypropylene or neo prene,

14 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEBW 51W 3.795.311

sum 1 or 2 v Figure I PATENTEDHAR 5W4 SHEET 2 UF 2 Figure Figure '3MOUNTING ASSEMBLY FOR VIBRATING SCREEN DECK BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates to vibrating screen decks and particularly todevices for mounting vibrating screens of the type used in industriessuch as mineral processing, food processing and petrochemicals. JohnsonU.S. Pat. No. 3,101,314 is illustrative of several prior art mountingdevices, inclusing wedges, bolts, and J-bolt assemblies which have beenused to anchor screens to screen decks.

In applications where abrasive particles pass over the screens, thescreens and the mountings therefore are subject to rapid wear,necessitating frequent replacemnt. Where nut and bolt fastening systemsare used, the wearing away of the corners of nut or bolt head byabrasive particles maks it especially difficult and time consuming toreplace a screen although damage to such nut and bolt members can bereduced by welding deflector shields to the clamping plate upstream ofeach bolt. Deflector shields cannot be effectively used with wedge-typefasteners since they would interfere with the driving of the wedge ifplaced close enough thereto to be effective as a deflector. A particulardisadvantage of bolt-type fastening systems is the time required toassemble and disassemble them, especially when they have corroded.Furthermore, trade union work rule requirements often require thathighly skilled labor be used to tighten bolts whereas wedges can betightened by laborers using hammers.

SUMMARY OF THE lNVENTlON It is an object of this invention to provide amounting assembly for anchoring a screen to a vibrating screen deckwhich has not only a much longer life than previously used mountingarrangements but also has the ability to be rapidly assembled anddisassembled by unskilled workmen.

The improved mounting assembly comprises a pin which is adapted to beaffixed at one end to a vibrating screen deck. Positioned near theopposite end of the pin is a longitudinally extending transverse slotwhich is adapted to receive the tapered wedge portion of a wedge member.The pin is adapted to extend through an opening in a clamping plate ortie down member which is spaced from the screen deck by the screen panelto be retained and by a resilient strip. To lock the panel to the deck,the wedge member is driven into the opening until the resilient strip ispartially compressed. The wedge member is formed with a head portionmuch wider than the wedge portion and at least as wide as the pin sothat particles traveling along the screen panel will be deflected awayfrom the wedge portion and pin. Where the environment is abrasive, suchas where minerals are processed, the head portion of the wedge and theexterior surface of the pin is preferably protected by a replaceablecover of an abrasive resistant material such as polyurethane,polypropylene or neoprene. To insure that the wedge will remain parallelto the direction of particle flow, the tie down member may be providedwith wedge rotation prevention elements such as studs or bars positionedclosely adjacent to the desired path of travel of the wedge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showingthe improved mounting assembly in combination with a plurality of screendecks;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the improved pin and wedge, taken on line 22 ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the improved mounting assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. I, avibrating screen deck assembly is indicated generally at 10. The deckassembly 10 includes a vibrating screen deck frame 12, deck supportmembers 14, and screen decks 16. A resilient strip 18 of a material suchas neoprene is positioned under the decks l6 and on top of the supportmembers 14. A similar resilient strip 20 is positioned above the decks.A clamping or tie-down plate 24 is forced downwardly to compress theresilient strips 18,20 by a wedge assembly indicated generally at 30.The wedge assembly 30 comprises a pin portion 32 having an opening 34into which a tapered wedge member 38 is driven by force applied to itshead portion 40. In order to insure that the wedge member 38 ismaintained aligned with the flow of material along the screen decks 16,as indicated by the arrow, a pair of studs 44 may be provided in theclamping plate 24. An alternative structure for preventing rotation ofthe wedge member 38 is shown in FIG. 1 and comprises an elongated bar 38which also serves to strengthen the clamping plate 24 where it isweakened by being apertured to accept the pin 32.

The details of the wedge assembly 30 are shown in FIG. 2. The pinportion 32 of the wedge assembly is mounted to the vibrating frame 14 bymeans of a threaded bolt 50 having a head 52 and a threaded end portion54. The bolt 50 is firmly locked to frame 14 by nut 56 and a pair oflock washers 58. The threaded end 54 of bolt 50 engages threads 60formed in the interior pin 32. The pin 32 can be locked against rotationby lock washer 62. If it is desirable to adjust the pin 32 up wardly,the pin can be partially unscrewed from bolt portion 52 and lockedagainst rotation in various ways, such as by adding shims or washers(not shown) to bear against lock washer 62, using a bolt with a nyloninsert, or by relying on the studs 44 and the compression of resilientstrips 18,20. The adjustment feature makes it possible to clamp screendeck panels of various thicknesses.

Clamping loads are applied to the pin 32 by the wedge member 38 throughcontact member 66 which is integrally attached to the pin body 68 byweld head 70. Contact member 66 extends into opening 34, therebyinsuring that the wedge member 38 cannot touch the top of openings 34and further insuring that the pin 32 will receive its loading uniformlyat its center.

Since the wedge assembly 30 is often used in a vibrating screen deckarrangement wherein abrasive particles are in contact with the deckpanels 16, it is desirable that the wedge assembly be protected fromdamage. This can be accomplished by providing the pin 32 and wedge head40 with easily replaceable, abrasion resistant deflector caps or covers74,76 respectively, of a material such as rigid polyurethane,polypropylene or neoprene. The wedge cover 76 can be held by a springlocking pin 78.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the wedge head 40 and its cap 76 have agreater width than the pin 32. This size relationship permits abrasiveparticles traveling along the screen decks 16 to be deflected withoutrequiring that separate deflector plates be welded to the clamping plate24 as is true in the prior art. Where particles being carried by thescreen decks 16 are non-abrasive or where food handling regulationswould prevent the use of plastic covers on the wedge members, the wedgemembers 30 can be integrally formed with large metal heads of a shapesimilar to the plastic caps 76.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a vibrating screen deck assembly comprising spaced support membersfor supporting at least one screen panel and at least one clamping platethereon, the improvement comprising at least one pin member mounted atone of its ends to at least one of said support members, said pin memberhaving a transverse opening therethrough which is axially spaced fromits free end, a wedge member, said wedge member including an elongatedtapered wedge portion adapted to be received in said transverse openingand an enlarged head portion having a transverse width greater than thewidth of said pin, said enlarged head serving to deflect particles whichare carried on the screen panel or clamping plate in a directionparallel to the length of the wedge portion so that the particles tendto avoid contact with either the wedge portion or the pin, said wedgemember overlying said clamping plate which in turn overlies said screenpanel to cause said screen panel to be tightly clamped against said atleast one support member.

2. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein saidenlarged head portion of said wedge member is covered by a replaceablecap member.

3. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 2 wherein at least aportion of said pin is covered by a replaceable cap member.

4. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 2 wherein said capmember is made of an abrasion resistant material.

5. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 4 wherein saidabrasion resistant material is resilient.

6. Ascreen deck assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein saidclamping plate is metallic and includes means for restricting therotation of said wedge member.

7. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 6 wherein saidrotation restricting means comprises a pair of studs extending upwardlyfrom said clamping plate at a distance from said pin.

8. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 6 wherein saidrotation restricting means comprises at least one elongated bar weldedto said clamping plate adjacent a side of said wedge portion.

9. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said pin isadapted to be mounted in a plurality of predetermined axial positionsrelative to said at least one support member.

10. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 9 wherein said pinis mounted by thread means.

11. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein aresilient strip is positioned between said clamping plate and saidscreen panel.

12. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 11 and furtherincluding a resilient strip between at least one of said support membersand said at least one screen panel.

13. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said pinincludes an internal abutment member extending into said transverseopening sufficicntly to engage said wedge portion and to prevent saidwedge portion from engaging the upper outer edges of said pin, wherebythe clamping load exerted on said abutment member by said wedge will berelatively evenly distributed throughout the body of said pin.

14. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 13 wherein saidabutment member has a curved end profile which is tangentially engagedby said wedge

1. In a vibrating screen deck assembly comprising spaced support membersfor supporting at least one screen panel and at least one clamping platethereon, the improvement comprising at least one pin member mounted atone of its ends to at least one of said support members, said pin memberhaving a transverse opening therethrough which is axially spaced fromits free end, a wedge member, said wedge member including an elongatedtapered wedge portion adapted to be received in said transverse openingand an enlarged head portion having a transverse width greater than thewidth of said pin, said enlarged head serving to deflect particles whichare carried on the screen panel or clamping plate in a directionparallel to the length of the wedge portion so that the particles tendto avoid contact with either the wedge portion or the pin, said wedgemember overlying said clamping plate which in turn overlies said screenpanel to cause said screen panel to be tightly clamped against said atleast one support member.
 2. A screen deck assembly in accordance withclaim 1 wherein said enlarged head portion of said wedge member iscovered by a replaceable cap member.
 3. A screen deck assembly inaccordance with claim 2 wherein at least a portion of said pin iscovered by a replaceable cap member.
 4. A screen deck assembly inaccordance with claim 2 wherein said cap member is made of an abrasionresistant material.
 5. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 4wherein said abrasion resistant material is resilient.
 6. A screen deckassembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said clamping plate ismetallic and includes means for restricting the rotation of said wedgemember.
 7. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 6 whereinsaid rotation restricting means comprises a pair of studs extendingupwardly from said clamping plate at a distance from said pin.
 8. Ascreen deck assembly in accordance with claim 6 wherein said rotationrestricting means comprises at least one elongated bar welded to saidclamping plate adjacent a side of said wedge portion.
 9. A screen deckassembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said pin is adapted to bemounted in a plurality of predetermined axial positions relative to saidat least one support member.
 10. A screen deck assembly in accordancewith claim 9 wherein said pin is mounted by thread means.
 11. A screendeck assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein a resilient strip ispositioned between said clamping plate and said screen panel.
 12. Ascreen deck assembly in accordance with claim 11 and further including aresilient strip between at least one of said support members and said atleast one screen panel.
 13. A screen deck assembly in accordance withclaim 1 wherein said pin includes an internal abutment member extendinginto said transverse opening sufficiently to engage said wedge portionand to prevent said wedge portion from engaging the upper outer edges ofsaid pin, whereby the clamping load exerted on said abutment member bysaid wedge will be relatively evenly distributed throughout the body ofsaid pin.
 14. A screen deck assembly in accordance with claim 13 whereinsaid abutment member has a curved end profile which is tangentiallyengaged by said wedge portion.